what Steve is doing on The Cloud – Day 7 of 30

Steve woke up this morning feeling sad and introspective. He was glad it was still early. He had an hour or so before he had to report to work. So much had happened yesterday, and he needed some time to process it, as his Dr. Kübler-Ross would say.

First, he had a glimpse of the Isaacson biography of him, even held it in his hands for a moment before it was snatched away. The clerk at The Cube had told him to find a copy at the iTower, but it wasn’t there. He wasn’t allowed in the acquisitions department, where the new books were processed, and no one knew when it would arrive. What was taking so long? They wouldn’t have to “morph” this one into a Cloud-acceptable version—it was already black and white. Steve suspected they were withholding it from him on purpose. “For your own good,” he could almost hear them saying.

Second, before reporting to work, he had gone up to his personal reserved iMac (yes!) on the tenth floor of the iTower and checked the news feeds, only to discover that Apple had scheduled an iPhone release event for 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 12, tomorrow! The Internet was full of news stories and photos showing a huge banner draped on the side of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in downtown San Francisco. The invitation featured a large black “12” under the phrase “It’s almost here”. He should be there!

Two blasts from the past.

This was exactly why it was standard advice on The Cloud for recent arrivals to stay away from the temptations of the tenth floor, to let go of your last life on The Earth, to get on with life up here. Gandhi said it. Dr. K-R said it. His best buddy John Lennon said it. The only person who ignored the advice and regularly checked the news from The Earth was his roommate Isaac Newton, and he’d had almost 300 years to adjust to his new life!

Third, his new work assignment was not satisfactory. He had followed instructions—report to the seventh floor of the iTower—and discovered he was to be a library aide. Shelve books. Mend covers. Make labels. Be an errand boy for the librarians. Listen and obey! The only plus—he was working in the 700’s section of the Dewey Decimal System, music and art, subjects he was interested in.

It seemed that humility was one of the new things he was supposed to learn. The most famous CEO on The Earth had been assigned two jobs on The Cloud so far—pool boy and errand boy.

Steve sighed and got up to face the day. Say your mantra, he thought to himself. Do your Zen Buddhist thing. He knew he had to forget the past and embrace the future.